How to make perfect pizza

Tuesday

Sep 27, 2011 at 12:01 AM

Have you ever wondered how pizzeria pie always seems so much better than what you make at home? We went to an expert to find out the secret behind the combination of dough, tomato sauce and cheese that will make the perfect pizza.

Amy Leap

Have you ever wondered how pizzeria pie always seems so much better than what you make at home?

We went to an expert to find out the secret behind the combination of dough, tomato sauce and cheese that will make the perfect pizza.

Max Duarte, manager and pizza maker at Frank's Pizzeria and Restaurant in Bartonsville, shared some of his secrets.

Every night before leaving the restaurant, Duarte mixes up 50 pounds of pizza dough for the next day. "It is better if you make the dough and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight," he said.

For 50 16-inch pies, he uses 50 pounds of pizza flour, 2 ounces of yeast, ¼ cup of olive oil and 4 gallons of water. He kneads the dough until it has a satin sheen, and then refrigerates the dough overnight.

Home chefs can use any pizza dough recipe, but the flour should have a high gluten, like bread flour, he said.

Duarte offered the following pizza sauce recipe. Since he only uses 1 cup of sauce on each pizza, he freezes the excess.

Yield: About 6½ cups

28-ounces can crushed tomatoes

1 cup diced onion

Dried oregano

Small amount of olive oil

Black pepper

Oregano and pepper to taste

1 clove garlic

Mix all the ingredients together and put through blender in batches.

For most pizza lovers, shaping the dough can prove to be a challenge. Here's Duarte's hints on how to do it right:

Start with a 1½-pound ball of dough, and lightly flour each side.

Place on lightly floured surface and pat the dough with the palms of your hand to make a circle.

Starting at the center and working outward, with the palms of your hands stretch the dough until it is about ½-inch thick. Duarte said he can tell when dough thickness is right by the way it feels.

Lift pizza dough and place it on the back of one hand. Shape your other hand into a gentle fist and place it right next to the first one.

Move hands gently away from each other in a circular manner to stretch the dough. As you move them away from each other, rotate the dough.

Place the dough on a pizza stone or pan. Work around the edge of the circle, forming a raised edge around the pie.

To complete the pizza, spread 1 cup of pizza sauce — Duarte prefers a thicker sauce — by using a circular motion with a large spoon. Do not go all the way to the edge of crust with sauce.

Sprinkle two handfuls of shredded mozzarella cheese on top. Don't worry about spaces between the cheese; it will melt and spread out. Don't spread cheese all the way up to the edge of the crust.

Sprinkle lightly with extra-virgin olive oil.

Bake in oven preheated to 450 degrees until crust is lightly browned on bottom and edges. Remove pie from oven and let stand for a few minutes before cutting.

Ask the Expert is published on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Readers can send their questions or ideas to aleap@poconorecord.com.

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